and Page 379 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Neil Olshey firing is only going to prolong the wait for your Dame dream trade
Let’s try an exercise. Something happens to the Portland Trail Blazers franchise, and they don’t immediately try to trade Damian Lillard. It’s to the point that I wouldn’t be shocked if media outlets have a pre-written template for Blazers stories....

Hey, remember Maryland? They used to be good and stuff
Mark Turgeon’s ouster at Maryland, just eight games into the season, is a good reminder of how quickly a college program can stumble into irrelevance, as well as the outsized influence of football in conference realignment....

Sports have a Gen Z problem, and it could take some experimenting to fix
In 2020, a survey of several Gen Z Americans revealed that only 53 percent considered themselves sports fans, and only 21 percent considered themselves to be “avid” sports fans. Both these figures are the lowest of any age demographic. Gen Z has shown a general disinterest toward professional sports...

Phoenix Suns’ solstice coming in part due to steadiness of coaching
On Nov. 4, ESPN published a report detailing the racist and misogynistic culture created by Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver within the organization, which had reached a point where one former executive was quoted as saying “there’s literally nothing you could tell me about him from a misogynistic o...

NFL Week 13: Baltimore is better, but Pittsburgh has a good history in these types of games
Week 13 is normally when we start seeing the NFL playoff picture unfold. However, in 2021, we’re still unsure if there are even any good teams in the league. The NFL is so tightly knit nowadays that even the 0-10-1 Detroit Lions still have not been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs....

MLB teams want a 2021 Platinum Glove winner to change positions?
Stop the free agent talk! The lockout has commenced and with it there will be no more free agent signings until MLB and the MLB Players’ Association agree on a new CBA for the next five years. That being said, there are still several big-name free agents who remained unsigned through the Wednesday C...

Antonio Brown’s chef turns out to be a whistleblower!
Turns out the chef was telling the truth! Bucs’ wide receiver Antonio Brown has been suspended by the NFL for three games without pay after “misrepresenting” his COVID vaccination status to the league....

After another setback for Zion, the New Orleans Pelicans had better know what they’re doing
Today was supposed to be the big day for New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson. A fractured foot has kept him off the court for this entire season as the Pelicans have sputtered to a 6-18 start. Williamson was cleared on Friday to participate in full team activities, and The Athletic’s Shams ...

Cordarrelle Patterson, the RB/WR/KR/FS quadruple-threat
Versatility isn’t talked about enough in the NFL. We talk about minimally when evaluating defensive draft prospects. “He’s great in man and zone”, “he can stuff the run and drop back into coverage”, “he has the size to be an effective pass rusher, but also the speed to keep up with slot receivers”, ...

Rafa Benitez has become what he beheld
Deep down, Liverpool supporters would tell you they didn’t want to do this to Rafa Benitez when he was announced as Everton’s manager before the season. Or, to put it more accurately, they didn’t want to have to do this. Benitez is still, and will always, be loved by the red half of Liverpool for br...

Happy Birthday, Aaron Rodgers! You’re still a selfish liar
The Aaron Rodgers “farewell to Green Bay” tour bus keeps rolling along and has claimed a few more bystanders that were run into, then backed over, in the process. This time it’s the Packers’ coaching staff catching the brunt of this blame game Rodgers loves to play....

MLB secretly used two different types of baseballs last season, according to report
Can’t we go six months without a scandal in Major League Baseball? Just six months. That’s all I’m asking for....

The only question for the Canadiens is what took so long?
So If you feel like you heard some faint swearing in the air, and it vaguely sounded French (though Quebecois only vaguely sound French), don’t worry, you weren’t alone....

Idiot of the Month: November’s most mind-blowing acts of stupidity
Welcome to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE MONTH! The year is almost over, mercifully. Here are some people who stood out in November for doing dumb things....

The votes are in, and Aaron Judge is NYC’s (sports) mayor!
The Board of Elections in New York has released the full results of the mayoral election, confirming that Democrat Eric Adams got 753,801 votes, more than doubling Republican Curtis Sliwa’s tally of 302,680. Of course, we already knew that Adams won in a landslide — we knew that it was going to be t...

MLS is just silly, and it loves it, apparently
The MLS playoffs concluded their second round last night, with some of its trademark goofiness. And in true nothing-means-anything fashion of the whole league, both No. 1 seeds failed to win a game....

Enough with Steph Curry
I’m done with the Steph Curry talk. No more! Moratorium on all things Golden State. There’s not a take to be had. He’s underrated, he’s overrated, he’s the most influential player since Bill Russell, he’s hated, he’s not hated. I don’t care. He’s oversaturated....

L.A. didn’t work out, LaVar Ball has sights set on his sons taking over Chicago
Everybody knows LaVar Ball is a character who’s never short on words, but he’s also someone whose words you should be taken with a grain of salt at times. Ball’s latest plan is to have all three sons reunite in Chicago as Bulls....

Sooners’ planned move to the SEC might’ve pushed Riley to USC
There were too many openings at too many big colleges for a notable school or two not to be on the losing side even after being on the side of winning for so long. In a not so subtle reminder that there’s always a bigger fish, Lincoln Riley opted for Southern California rather than the Southeastern ...

2021 Rookie QB Rankings: Hair we go again
It’s Week 12 of the NFL season, and rookie quarterbacks are always front and center, with some living up to the hype and others not as much. With that, let’s look at how the 2021 rookie class fared in Week 12....